20 If a voice count of Harding's 3000 students were to ever be taken, a stranger could be excused for mistaking the event for a roll-call vote of the United Nations and the U.S. Senate. On a ratio basis Harding has long been quite cosmopolitan in the makeup of her student body. Among the 1386 men and 1413 women on campus this year, 48 states and 25 foreign countries were represented. The diversity of the individuals combined in Harding's own type of "melting Imported and transplanted, Internationals learn to cope 1. SENIOR Debbie McCabe from Rhodesia, a transfer student from Alabama Christian CoUege, enjoys the Regina Christmas party . 2. SPENDING an afternoon outdoors, Tom Alexander and fiance Jeannie Spencer relax in a swing. pot," giving many a different kind of education than what the catalog promised for $65.50 per semester hour. Often, however, experience, a harsh teacher at times, taught the visiting foreign students more lessons than even the most northern "Yankee"received. . Senior Debbie McCabe was one who learned much from experience. From Rhodesia, Debbie's initial trip to the U.S. was more urgent than academic. "My parents wanted me to get out of Rhodesia because of the war situation," she said, "And a friend at home had two daughters at Alabama Christian College in Montgomery." Originally, Debbie planned to return to Rhodesia after attending ACC for two years. She altered her plans, however, after going back home for the summer. lilt was very different the Internationals summer after my freshman year when I went back home," she recounted . "Before I came to the States I wasn't a Christian. When I wed home I was different from my friends. We had grown apart." Deciding to continue toward her degree in public relations in the U.S., Debbie came to Harding. Here she continued to face an ·environment in which_she was still not totally comfortable. "I think the whole pace of life here is faster . . . even the families," she commented. "For instance, mealtime here is so hurried." The food itself was an adjustment for her also. Mov1.ng to the South, she encountered an abundance of fried foods, a rare commodity in Rhodesia. Even though she came from an EngUsh-speaking culture, Debbie also found the language and social customs of the u.S. to be quite different. She discovered in Alabama that "Hey" means, "Hi," whereas in Rhodesia, "Hey" means, "Come here, I need to speak with you." Her problems were only compounded by her accent and some Americans' delight ill mocking it. "I began to think they just didn't like the way I talked," recalled Debbie. "So I tried to talk like them; I even went through a stage where I wouldn't talk at all unless it was absolutely necessary." One major social adjustment for Debbie came in the way she viewed dating. She stated that in Rhodesia, "You have an unspoken agreement that while you are getting to know someone you won't go out with anyone else ." Debbie's feelings and experiences were not entirely unique, however. Senior Tom Alexander, son of missionary parents in Australia, experienced his own culture shock upon returning to America. After living in Australia for six years, during the crucial years between the ages of 12 and 18, Tom was more"Aussie" than American. He had developed an Australian accent and was accustomed to using British spellings and slang expressions. "1 stuck my foot in my mouth a lot my freshman year," he commented. The first year was especially difficult for Tom. "It was hard to ' make decisions on my own," he said. Dating was an adjustment. In Australia, as in Rhodesia, people date one person at a time. A member of Chi Sigma Alpha social dub, Tom received some help in the transition process from fellow dub members . liThe guys on my wing paid for a phone call home my first Christmas here," he recalled. '1t was very expensivp - $3.00 a minute." Unlike Debbie and Tom, who came from English-speaking nations, business major Shinobu Otsuka spoke no English when she arrived in the States. From Chiba, Japan she came to Arkansas in 1976 as a sophomore in high school to attend Harding Academy. '1 was scared to even try to talk to anyone," said Shinobu, "because I knew they wouldn't understand what I was trying to say. English was very hard to learn." After spending three years in Arkansas and learning the English language, Shinobu now considers herself as much a Southerner as her roommate,
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